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Rapture's Delight
"Rapture's Delight" is the third Christmas episode of the animated series American Dad! Synopsis As the Smith family go to Church on Christmas morning, Stan is frustrated dealing with those that are only religious on holidays. To relieve Stan's stress, Francine has sex with Stan in the janitor's closet as the world ends, leaving them and Roger on earth as Hayley and Steve float up to heaven. Stan and Francine find out about what coming days will be like and ponder their fate. Steve and Haley are escorted to their own personal Heavens by Michelle, Steve finding out his is a virgin riding a unicorn that poops pepper-jack cheeseburgers. Stan finds out that Jesus will be appearing and tries to blame Francine for getting left behind. Francine becomes angry and leaves Stan, meeting the real Jesus in a diner. Stan finds out that his Jesus is fake but when he tries to make up with Francine she has decided to leave Stan for good for Jesus. During the Seven years or the Tribulations, Stan has found himself a bitter, scarred and no longer willing warrior for Christ. He has also has Klaus as mantelpiece in his new home. Jesus seeks him out to let him know that Francine has been captured by the Anti-Christ. Stan reluctantly agrees to help rescue Francine in exchanged for being Raptured to Heaven. They need to get Roger to use his spaceship to fly them to New York and the United Nation's Building to confront the Anti-Christ which they are able to re-power using The Golden Turd. They rescue Francine but fall into a trap from which they manage to escape but not before Stan is mortally injured. Francine finds that Stan still keeps their wedding rings and realizes he still loved her. Stan dies in the explosion and is sent to heaven; when guided to his "personalized heaven" we see that it is his home just as it was at the beginning of the episode, the only difference being Klaus' dead fish body (from earlier in the episode) being mounted on a plaque hanging on the wall. Trivia * When Roger is dressed as Moses, the six commandments on his tablets are "Surf," "Dooble," "Chow," "Party," "Helmet," and "Sleep". * At the arena where the fake Jesus is to appear, the 1980s rock group of Hall & Oates was to appear, however, John Oates had apparently been Raptured, leaving Darryl Hall behind. In a notable twist, Darryl Hall had just previously appeared as an angel and John Oates as a devil in The Cleveland Show episode "A Brown Thanksgiving". *When Jesus rides his motorcycle into New Denver, he passes a hanging skeleton wearing a football uniform bearing #7 which was John Elway's number for the Denver Broncos. * When Roger is looking for his spaceship parts, he holds up a sweatshirt that says "Hard Rock Cafe Tucson". However, there isn't a Hard Rock Cafe in Tucson, AZ. *This is one of the few episodes where Klaus has no lines as he's seen only as mantlepiece. * When Stan and Jesus enter The Anti-Christ's hall, a parody of the movie The Omen's theme "Ave Satani" starts to play. *Michelle the Lawyer returns in this episode with a new job as an escort to people's personal Heaven. * In the bar when Jesus comes to recruit Stan, the song "Barael's Blade" by The Sword is playing in the background. *The Anti-Christ appears in "Season's Beatings", as Jeff and Hayley's son Nemo. * Setting aside the show's recorded sitcom setting, Hayley ascended to Heaven despite being an atheist like she has claimed to be in "Roger Codger" and "Dope & Faith". But it is also possible that like Greg's homosexuality, God didn't care. * The DVD commentary touches on the notion that everything from this point on is still part of Stan's personal Heaven. However, Klaus is seen alive in subsequent episodes, suggesting that this episode is actually non-canon to the series' continuity. References * The episode title may be a reference to the song " by The Sugarhill Gang. Rapper's Delight was in turn a direct inspiration for the Blondie song "Rapture". * The Antichrist's costume is styled after the Riddler from Batman. * The music and setting of the world after The Tribulations are reminiscent of John Carpenter films, notably the Escape From New York / Escape From LA films. *In the final battle, Jesus is seen wearing two "Holy hand-grenade"s which is a reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail. * The final scene of Klaus wearing the Santa hat is reminiscent of the final scene of several film versions of Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol, notably the 1970 version of Scrooge when Scrooge places the Santa hat on the door knocker. * When Jesus enters the bar to recruit Stan, Lord Humungous and many of the other raiders from The Road Warrior can be seen in the background. * One of the people in the bar wears clothing reminiscent of Dengar's from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. * Jesus’ comment regarding his father’s dead jester is a reference to Yorick in Hamlet. * During the fight with the anti-Christ when Stan shoots the wisemen down from the ceiling, he says, "It's raining wisemen, hallelujah." This is a reference to the Weather Girls song "It's Raining Men". See also *"The Best Christmas Story Never" *"The Most Adequate Christmas Ever" *"For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls" *"Season's Beatings" *"Minstrel Krampus" *"Dreaming of a White Porsche Christmas" *"Ninety North, Zero West" External links *American Dad! Wiki: Category:Episodes Category:Originally aired on FOX Category:20th Century Fox Category:2009 releases